One baby’s unusual entrance into the world paved the way for a sweet mother-daughter selfie tradition.
When Genevieve Flynn went into labor in 2011, she planned to drop off her 18-month-old son, Victor, with his grandparents, and head to the hospital. Instead, Flynn, who lives in New Brunswick, Canada, gave birth on her childhood driveway.
“My water broke on the way to their house but I still thought we had time,” Flynn, 41, tells TODAY.com, noting that she labored for more than five hours with Victor.
After handing Victor over to her parents, Flynn changed into dry pants for the hour-long ride to the hospital.
“My husband was trying to rush me along and I was like, ‘No, we’re fine, it’s fine,'” Flynn recalls, with a laugh.
As Flynn was making her way up the driveway back to her car, she started experiencing intense contractions. Not only were they powerful, they were coming at regular intervals, indicating that labor was near.
“I had an epidural right away with Victor, so the pain was like nothing I’d ever experienced,” Flynn says.
Flynn remembers feeling a “huge rush,” and a burning sensation, at which point she grabbed onto the hood of her vehicle to steady herself. The baby’s head was crowning.
“It was the middle of the night and the neighbors across the street came over because they heard me screaming and thought something bad was happening,” Flynn says.
Minutes later, the Flynns welcomed a healthy 7 pound, 13 ounce daughter named Violet.
Before an ambulance arrived, Flynn’s husband snapped a photo of his wife lying on the driveway with Violet on her chest, wrapped in a pink blanket.
To commemorate Violet’s extraordinary birth story, the mother and daughter duo take a selfie at that same spot every year on Violet’s birthday.
“We missed the first year because she was crawling around and I couldn’t get a good shot,” Flynn says. “So every year since two, we’ve done it.”
In September, Violet turned 13.
“She’s a teenager now and she barely fits in my lap. It’s hard for us to both sit in the same frame,” Flynn shares. “But she’s the nicest kid and knows how important it is to me.”
Flynn’s parents are putting their house on the market, but Flynn says the tradition will hopefully live on until Violet is 18.